Dana Perino shared on Instagram that her father Leo passed away unexpectedly at 79 — and what she revealed about his final days stopped everyone who read it completely cold. On his bedside was her new novel Purple State — open and partway through — and Dana said she was crushed he did not finish it but deeply grateful he made it to a certain scene that she had written with him in mind. Leo Perino was the man Dana credited with sparking her love of current events, public affairs and lifelong learning — the quiet force behind everything she became — and Fox News viewers who watched her for years always knew exactly where that steadiness came from. She stood at the most powerful podium in America. She built one of the most recognizable careers in television news. And her father spent his last days reading her words — which is the only review that ever really mattered.
